"Oops~" Derick tilted his head, narrowly avoiding Zinon's blow.
Zinon had approached at a much faster speed than he had initially estimated, almost catching him off guard. He only managed to avoid it thanks to his instinct, gained through thousands of deadly battles.
"Wow, you are direct, girl! Although it's lucky, because I don't like to beat around the bush either!" Derick smiled happily as his shadow enveloped him, creating a light armor made of shadows.
The armor was similar to the typical ninja suit, with the only difference that it had some shiny shadow plates in its vital points.
Zinon narrowed his eyes. He realized immediately that Derick was serious now.
This is going to be annoying... Zinon felt a slight headache. She had to defeat Derick as quickly as possible so that the shadows that were chasing Kayla would disappear.
She had used an analysis skill on them and realized that most of them were level 40...
Although Kayla was talented, it was impossible for her to defeat beings at level 40!
But the problem was that Derick was not an easy opponent at all. The only reason he defeated him so easily before was because he had underestimated her and took advantage of the opportunity by unleashing her strongest attack.
But now he didn't have that chance... Hell, he even had to fight a seal constantly while fighting Derick with his energy reserves almost depleted!
Zinon frowned. This was probably going to be her toughest battle in a long time...
"Hehe, are you starting to get nervous?"
Suddenly, Derick's voice came from Zinon's back!
Zinon's eyes widened in disbelief as she watched Derick distort and disappear, like a shadow before the ligh.
Shit!
Zinon dove to the ground, narrowly avoiding a golden dagger shrouded in shadows aimed at his neck!
"Haha I guess I got too excited, I should have shut my mouth and killed you already~" Derick had the same excited look on his face. It was obvious that he wasn't taking Zinon seriously.
That was a blow to Zinon's pride, as she had been called a genius since joined the church.
"Haha, yes in fact, you should have killed me at that time." Zinon stood up and smiled warmly. "Since you won't get another chance like that!"
Zinon decided to put all other matters to the back of her mind and focus entirely on her battle.
Zinon stomped on the ground and rushed towards Derick at breakneck speed, throwing a fist at his chest.
Derick's eyes widened. Zinon had moved at an even faster speed than his previous one. Why is this girl so fast?!
Derick blocked the blow with his arms, but was still sent flying by the force behind the fist, destroying several trees along the way.
Damn, that hurt! Derick cursed, but a slight smile could be seen on his face.
"Why are you smiling, pervert?" Zinon didn't give her a second break and appeared before her, leg raised, ready to deliver a heel kick.
"Haha why didn't I expect you to be so strong, but I don't like getting hit, so I'm going to dodge this~" Derick smiled happily.
Zinon narrowed her eyes and lowered his leg. "Let's see if you can dodge it."
Bamm!
The ground under Zinon's foot cracked, creating large craters and fissures in the ground!
"Tsk, damn eel." Zinon looked at his leg, which had traces of black energy around it.
"Haha, did you really think I would receive that point-blank kick?"
Derick stood behind Zinon, swinging his darkness-shrouded dagger at Zinon's side.
But Zinon, as if he had been waiting for it, threw an elbow backwards, hitting Derick in the face.
"Not actually! But you will receive this blow-What?!" However, Zinon widened his eyes in disbelief.
Derick, who had punched him in the face, dispersed into a shadow!
And before Zinon knew it, a dagger was stuck in his abdomen!
"You…" Zinon looked at the man in front of him with annoyance. He had lost the feint game!
"Oh, it seems you don't mind having a dagger stuck in your stomach that much~" Derick blurted out, amused.
"Well, it's not the worst wound I've ever received," Zinon said as he tried to grab Derick's hands, but the latter didn't give him the chance.
"Well if so, let's see how you react to this!" Derick smiled excitedly and his dagger suddenly gained a crimson hue!
Before Zinon knew it, the dagger in his abdomen had begun to suck his blood!
Zinon's eyes widened in disbelief. How many battle skills does this guy have?!
Zinon swore that Derick had used at least three skills against her since she first faced him!
"Surprised?" Derick smiled confidently. "Most people I face never expect me to have that many battle skills, let alone one related to blood."
"This is actually my innate ability, which steals my enemy's stats through blood, so die and be my fertilizer~" Derick smiled ghoulishly as his dagger glowed brighter.
Zinon's face turned pale and his body began to shake a little from the loss of blood, but there was not a hint of panic on his face.
This wasn't the first time she had faced a dangerous situation and it wouldn't be the last either!
Suddenly, as if trying to swallow the crimson light of the dagger, Zinon's entire body exploded with golden light!
"W-what?!" Derick opened his eyes in surprise as he felt his innate ability losing effectiveness!
"You're not the only one with innate ability." Zinon, with his body glowing, punched Derick in his face.
Derick was sent flying, crashing into several trees before finally stopping.
Zinon calmly removed the dagger stuck in his stomach. The wound in his abdomen closed in seconds. I only have five minutes to defeat him... I already spent all my energy to activate my innate ability, after five minutes, I will be sealed again...
Not to mention that Kayla wouldn't be able to last long with those shadow monsters hunting her.
With no time to waste, Zinon launched herself at Derick, prepared to beat him to death while he was stunned by the blow.
However, even though a thin line of blood leaked from her mouth, Derick reacted in time and disappeared into her shadow.
Bamm!
The tree that Derick had crashed into broke under Zinon's blow, who only managed to touch the shadow-like energy in the air.
And without wasting any time, she launched a powerful kick backwards, grazing Derick who had materialized from Zinon's shadow!
"Hey-!" Derick tried to say something, but Zinon continued with her attack, throwing another blow at his face that he narrowly dodged.
This was repeated for a while. Zinon continued with a powerful offensive, cornering Derick little by little. This happened because his innate ability greatly improved one or more of his stats!
But that wasn't the only reason why she was now leading the battle. The most important reason for this was that Zinon had finally realized the effects of Derick's abilities!
Especially that ability with which he disappeared into his shadow!
Firstly, the shadow armor that enveloped him absorbs much of the attacks he receives, redirecting the damage to who knows where.
The second thing was that his attacks, whether with his hands or daggers, had the ability to somewhat ignore people's defensive ability, inflicting more damage than normal. Although Zinon didn't know if it was sword aura or a skill.
And last but not least, his damn ability to suddenly vanish into his shadow! She had finally understood how the ability worked!
Teleportation abilities like Derick's were quite rare and powerful, but they all had a flaw somewhere.
And for that same reason, people who relied a lot on abilities of this type fell at a serious disadvantage when they discovered the flaw.
And that was exactly what happened in combat! Zinon, after having suffered so much with that ability, finally discovered that Derick could only teleport into his shadow!
With that knowledge, the battle had tilted entirely towards Zinon.
Derick's fight had always been based on dodging and attacking from behind, but now, Zinon's speed was superior and his attacks from behind no longer worked, leaving him like a tiger without teeth and claws.
Cold sweat ran down Derick's bruised and bloody face. For quite some time now, she could no longer dodge Zinon's attacks completely and had to rely on his shadow armor, which was already half destroyed, to cushion the damage.
But despite that, his condition was extremely bad, even serious. His shadow armor could only absorb 40% of the damage he received, but he couldn't even withstand 60% of Zinon's power...
I think I bit off more than I could have...
Derick hated to admit it, but Zinon was much stronger than him. Maybe, if he had been using the same transformation as in his first confrontation, he might have had a chance.
But the transformation Zinon was in right now was too…simple. But that was what made her so powerful. She didn't need any strategy, she just had to destroy everything in front of her with her fists.
That was a style that had no particular strength, but also no weakness.
Finally, Derick collapsed to the floor exhausted. He watched as Zinon approached him little by little, but even though death was approaching his neck... a small smile did not leave his face.
Zinon felt a bad feeling, so without waiting another second, he gathered all the golden light into his fist. She had gathered all of her power into a single point, prepared to unleash her most powerful attack. Although later all his strength would run out...
Zinon ran towards Derick at her top speed, wishing the uncomfortable feeling in the back of her mind didn't come true, but unfortunately for her, she was too slow.
Derick's small smile had suddenly turned into a big smile, sending shivers down Zinon's spine. She tried to kill him instantly, but Derick's mouth was faster.
"If you don't want me to die, stop."
Derick said it calmly, making Zinon freeze in place. Her face, which had gained some color thanks to his innate ability, turned paper white.
"Damn…" Zinon's fist, which was only a few centimeters away from Derick's face, recoiled.
"Haha, although it's a pity that I can't defeat you, I value my life, so let's make a deal." Derick calmly stood up from the floor, although suddenly, he froze for a few seconds, as if a wound suddenly hurt. .
Zinon didn't pay much attention to him and waited for him to continue, while panic began to take over her. It had been a little over three minutes since she activated her innate ability and soon she would lose her powers again...
"As you must assume, my shadow subordinates finally caught up with the girl from another world. Although I must say that it took longer than I thought hahaha" Derick laughed lightly.
Zinon's eyes trembled a little when she heard that. Although she wished that Derick would tell lies, her church's lie detection ability confirmed that the man's words were true...
"Although you know, we can make a deal~"
Zinon's eyes shone when she heard those words. Her mind began to work at insane speeds and quickly came up with a way for her and Kayla to get out of this situation alive. She had to scam Derick!
"What… what kind of deal" Zinon pretended to be hesitant.
"Well, simple, you let me go and I'll let the girl from another world live." Derick smiled brightly. His judgment was correct. A stupid unity church believer couldn't abandon a girl to death!
"Do you think I'm an idiot? How do I know you're not going to kill her as soon as I let you go?" Zinon pointed out the main problem in her negotiation!
Although she had the ability to detect lies, it only worked for questions with yes or no answers, and she didn't have enough time to think of questions without spaces that Derick could take advantage of to trick her!
"Well, simple enough, I'll give you this." Derick reached into his pocket and pulled out a bone bracelet. "Actually, shadow minions are not a skill of mine, or at least completely. It is a magic that I am learning and that I can only activate with this bracelet, so if it is destroyed, the shadow subordinates will disappear."
"So, what do you say, do you accept?" Derick smiled warmly. Although to Zinon, his smile seemed like the devil's smile.
Zinon's mind began to think of all the possibilities and she finally made a decision, although she had to confirm something first.
"Is what you just said correct?" Zinon asked seriously.
"Yes," Derick kept the answer short. It was no secret that the United Church's punishment order had a hereditary skill to detect lies.
"Ok, let's do it." Zinon didn't want to waste any more time. There were less than thirty seconds left until she lost all of her powers.
"Thank you honey, I'll appreciate this~" Derick smiled and tossed her the bracelet.
Zinon caught her in the air while he watched Derick run as fast as he could to who knows where. A big smile appeared on her face. Good, I fooled that bastard!
Zinon wanted to celebrate in style, but he quickly tried to destroy the bracelet. Although before, she used her analysis ability to check the information on the bracelet. She had to make sure what Derick said was correct.
[Custom Novice Necromancer Bracelet (C-)
Bracelet made to help people shadow necromancy. He has the ability to create one hundred lesser subordinates and share his senses with any of them. (If this item suffers any damage, the minor subordinates will lose their anchor to this world and return to their original forms)]
"Good! "That bastard didn't lie to me hahaha!" Zinon laughed out loud. She had totally fooled Derick.
Although Zinon quickly sent some of his magic into the bracelet to use the option of sharing senses with junior subordinates. And as expected from a rookie team, it was pretty easy to do.
Although after sharing the senses with one of the subordinates, she began to shake with rage.
"DERICK, DAMN!!!"
Zinon screamed at the top of his lungs and even tried to chase him while he hadn't gone too far yet. Although Unfortunately for her, the seal went into effect and she lost all her powers.
Her battle suit disappeared and her priest suit returned to her as she fell to the ground.
"That bastard scammed me!!"